“I’m excited that Dr. Ellig will lend his talents to the FCC as we continue to integrate economic analysis into our decision making and create an agency culture that supports big-picture economic thinking once again,” Pai said in a statement. “Dr. Ellig’s record of distinguished scholarship and prior government service makes him the right person for this job.”

Ellig, a former adjunct professor of law and an associate professor of economics at George Mason, received his master’s degree in economics in 1986 at Mason. He earned his PhD in economics at Mason two years later. He is currently a member of Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Studies graduate faculty.

Ellig previously served in the federal government as deputy director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission and was a senior economist of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee.

He has been with the Mercatus Center since 2004 and will take a leave of absence for his one-year term at the FCC, which begins July 10.